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Any way to make a 1350 ft lake work with a course?


skihart
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Hi guys

Just wondering what the options are for a lake that is only 1350 feet long. I think a 4 buoy course would be okay, but is there any way to squeeze in an 8 buoy overlapped one? Anyone have any experience with a lake of this size?

Thanks

Rob

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I have a buddy w/a 1600 ft lake in IL, full 6 buoy course w/pre-gates. Do have to hop out of the hole facing away, turn around and come into the course. For 36 mph skiers, got to get on the juice in a hurry out of the corner to make sure not accelerating during skier pullout. Works better for 1 handers who pull out later.
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I will try to get a shot off google earth tonight, unless i am having a few pints..of course than it will be tomorrow. Anybody ski here at John's lake? It's an 8 ball course with a dog leg and is allegedly 1200ft. It's in Colesville, NJ.

 

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I have skied Johns Lake, and you dog leg both ends and the set up is quick. Going to the left hand turn out of the course, the boat is turning to miss shore before you leave the exit gates. Come back from that end and you get whipped out for your gate set up. Also, its not a typical 8 buoy set up, its partially overlapped so if you are really early or late you hit the boat guides for the other course. They still run 6 buoys each way. All this said, its a fun place to ski with great hosts.

 

I set up a straight in 8 buoy course (also NJ) at 1550' and it was as short as it could be. Ok for 34mph, to short for 36mph even dropping the hammer on an Infinity (one of the fastest out of the hole IMO). We tried spinning in as OB said rollers are not worth it.

 

KB

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I skied at John's lake many moons ago. At the time they did tournaments running only 1 direction. I understand they later did an 8 buoy course and did some record tournaments going both directions.

 

Long before speed control and 55m buoys, but very workable even then.

 

1350 and an 8 buoy course will work as long as you start going away and turn in.

If it was easy, they would call it Wakeboarding

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I have skied 2 tournaments at Johns, and it's the only tournament site I've ever run -38.

 

The setup *looks* hideous. There are buoys all over the place because there isn't even room for 8 -- instead there are two courses slightly offset from each other. Even while skiing, you occasionally may glimpse turn balls that are not in use in the direction you are currently going. And the entries are crazy -- on one end the boat turns LEFT to enter the course, and you better not try to pull out too soon or you'll have absolutely nothing to pull on.

 

That said, it is, by a fair margin, the easiest site I have ever skied. I ran the -38 from the left-turn-in direction, and my gate was mediocre at best. But the water there is pure miracle. SO fast across; SO much hold in the turns. Almost shouldn't be possible.

 

If you've got a site with that level of miracle water, you can get away with just about any craziness you need to make it work. But if it's a tough site water-wise, those kind of setups could make it really aggravating.

 

GOOD LUCK!

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But I almost wonder if they got some kind of exception, because there are no 55m buoys, and in certain cases the boat may be turning for the dog leg before the skier has actually exited. (This is especially likely when running very late on a longer line.)

 

When I ran that -38 I came really close to crashing AFTER the pass beause I was celebrating madly and then almost right away the boat has to do a hard left.

 

And when you start (on both ends), you can't even see the course.

 

Like I said it sounds completely insane, but after about 1 round of feeling it out, it is freakin' pure gold.

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Both Oakham and Avon are significantly longer, at least in terms of straightline length.

 

I believe (from some hats they made at one point) that Avon is 1510', and I think Oakham is similar.

 

John's is just barely longer than a slalom course itself. I can't confirm 1200 feet, but that sounds about right. From each start, it would be impossible to get up to speed fast enough if not for the dog-leg coming it at 90 degrees to the course. And then you run the course that is aligned such that the skier reaches the exit gate roughly simultaneously with the boat being forced to turn 90 degrees again. That gate is so close to shore that it would be absolutely impossible to run the same course in the opposite direction.

 

As short as Oakham is, I've never felt the setups were the reason that I have so much trouble there. What makes that place so tough for me is (roughly in order) sluggish water, backwash, and hard-to-read winds.

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Yeah, diagonals are your friend here.

 

I'll call the one you've drawn "A" and I think it's a very good one to consider.

 

Some other diagonals to consider:

 

B) Running from the SW corner toward what looks like a potential dog-leg in the NE "corner"? This seems like it's still a very short just-over-1300 feet, but depending on depths, it's conceivable you could run buoys way into the NE corner, and use the right turn dog-leg to get up to speed in time when going from NE to SW.

 

C) Running from the SE corner and then as close to the point (at mid-image) as depth allows. From NW to SE you'd have to enter with a "wrong"-direction dog-leg, but this might give you the longest straight-line distance, maybe as much as 1500 feet.

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Ya I think the diagonals will be my friend here. So the red represents the slalom course to approx scale at at total of 1200 feet with 55's.

Gonna to try to have a better look at the site today at some point. Probably frozen but might be a good way to do a potential layout...

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